Rafah crossing to reopen Monday, Tuesday: State media

CAIRO: Egypt-Gaza border Crossing of Rafah is scheduled to be opened Monday and Tuesday in order to facilitate movement of persons unable to return to their countries, state-owned news agency MENA reported Saturday.

The crossing has been mostly closed since October 2014 following militant attacks in North Sinai near the Palestine-Israel border that killed more than 30 Egyptian soldiers and injured dozens.

Since then, it was opened only three times to facilitate movement of Palestinians stranded in Egypt.

Due to terror attacks on Egyptian military personnel in North Sinai, the Army has launched numerous military operations on “militants” and closed the border, as well as institutive a 1-km wide buffer zone with a goal of destroying tunnels used for smuggling goods and persons to and from the Gaza strip.

The most recent announcement to reopen the crossing came eight days after an Egyptian court labeled the Gaza-based Hamas movement a “terrorist group.”